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Just finished seeing Looper and A Christmas Story 2. Story wise Looper was a good movie, though it left me a bit distracted from the main story while pondering the whole time travel aspect of it. I'm still left wondering how the mafia from the future was able to get into contact with their present day mafia counterparts to set up these time travel hits in the first place. Also enjoyed A Christmas Story 2. Not as good as the original A Christmas Story, but surprisingly not bad for a "Direct-to-DVD" film. About 15,000 times better than that other sequel, It Runs in the Family (aka My Summer Story).

Finally made it to see Les Miserables. I'd heard both glowing reviews and harsh criticisms of it; I found it excellent. Just like the stage production I saw at the Pantages theater, I couldn't make it through with dry eyes. I thought I would be distracted with the sing-all-the-words, but the actors knew when to change their tone at the right times. It sure deserves whatever awards it gets.

The top Israeli secret service assassin agent becomes a hairdresser in New York and probably is going to fall for this gorgeous Palestinian babe! I think the actress playing her was on the shield and she is hot!

Meanwhile I am laughing so hard. I don't watch a lot of comedy and I so needed this.

BAD Pts Need:R5-C7 lf leg (x2), , R4-P44 right leg BAD Pts Offered For Trade: PM me - I have lots of parts now including BG-J38!. New Kyle Katarn is also available.

I wasn't expecting much at all from it, but I did expect the adventure of it to be as enjoyable as the first one turned out to be. Unfortunately it was just as unnecessary as I thought it was. The first mistake was trying to make the motivation for the villains deeper than just their comrades were killed with a lost family angle. Taken made sure that the villains in it were utterly despicable, so the attempt to add a family honor angle to the new villain's motivation was completely unnecessary and just came across as a weak attempt to tread deeper than the franchise had been intended for. On the protagonist side, Neeson's character never came across as being in danger, nor his daughter - you could practically see the script's clause dictate not to repeat abducting the daughter. The wife got the worst of it, but it was still pretty tame compared to what the daughter went through in the first one. Throughout Taken I was intrigued with how they managed to take Neeson's character through the levels of the ugly underworld he had to trudge through, but I was just bored watching Taken 2. They made Neeson's character too capable and paired him with a villain that never seemed threatening, just making for a movie lacking in any creativity.

The Bourne Legacy -

Based on reactions on here and another message board, I wasn't expected to enjoy this one but wanted to see it anyway since I enjoyed the previous trilogy. I was pleasantly surprised to find Legacy to be very enjoyable. It's not nearly as great as any of the Bourne movies, but it does have a few attributes that makes it stand out on its own and I really enjoyed that it wasn't just treated as an after-the-fact spinoff. The way they had it tie into the events of the entire Jason Bourne trilogy was really well done and didn't come off as forced. My only complaint is that the final chase scene went on too long without anything really special to it, and eventually ended on a flat note.

Dredd -

Despite not being a well done movie, I do have fond memories of the Stallone Dredd movie with it at least being fun. Mostly a guilty pleasure. So, I wasn't sure what to expect with this version and my watching it was more reluctant than anything. BUT! I enjoyed it quite a bit. It wasn't a great movie, but it was well done and they did a very good job with establishing the atmosphere of the world with obviously a very limited budget. The action was limited but often unexpected, such as the gattling guns mowing down an entire block and the shock of it made it all the more interesting. What really sold me was Anderson's development through the movie, though. She goes from an optimistic rookie to scarred and cynical by the end, and it's presented that such a transformation isn't tragic but rather normal. That, to me, was the best way to depict the dystopia that Dredd takes place in. Good movie.

Pitch Perfect -

The trailers on TV really give a much different idea than the full trailers you can find online, and I wasn't sure if I still wanted to see it after watching a full trailer. But, a friend watched it and told me it was very funny with some unexpected humor. So, I gave it a watch and found that it turned out to be much better than I expected, I was worried it would be some sort of annoying fluffiness of Glee levels. Instead, it reminded me of a mix of Dodgeball and the first Bring It On - but it found a healthy balance between the two. It didn't take its concept too seriously, but it also didn't treat it so lightly that the characters are just walking gimmicks. They're actually characters, and they're actually interesting. It was a very good comedy and although it does adhere to some cliches for such a movie, particularly the ending, it also sidesteps expected ones and does its own thing. I recommend it.

Cloud Atlas -

I'm very torn on different aspects about the movie, but overall I enjoyed it. I don't have too much to comment on because I'm still trying to really decipher my feelings on the timelines and how they fit together, but my only major complaint with the movie is that the editing gets confusing, and the valley people's language got on my nerves. I understand the motivation to have the broken english language, but it was so difficult to get used to and generally sounded too silly. It really ruined the mood that the movie was often trying to present, especially whenever they had to say "true true" - it just makes me think of "roger, roger" and it makes me unhappy. And, as much as I like Tom Hanks, I think the movie got a little too heavy with his prominent usage in the various eras. Fortunately he was only modestly used in the futuristic Korea, which was the era I most enjoyed the depiction of. Possibly because it reminded me of The Fifth Element in some scenes.

"Hokey packaging and ancient gimmicks are no match for good detail on your figure, kid.""I am a Klingot from Oklahoma in human boy form.""We came, we saw, we conquered... We, woke up!"